Next Sunday, November 2nd it will again be the end of Daylight Saving Time for this year. Many of us will be muttering to ourselves as we wander around resetting all of our various clocks — on the thermostat, clock radio, microwave, and stove, among other places.

Sure, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep by turning back the clock by an hour in the fall. But if you have a regular day job, you’ll be getting home in the dark instead of in daylight come the following Monday. Why do we do this every fall? And why do we dial forward the clock by an hour every spring? It’s like dumb and dumber.

Daylight Saving Time has been around for most of the last century, but there’s no really good reason why we should continue with this crazy clock turning. The U.S. government started moving into and out of “Daylight Saving Time” during World War I to copy the Germans, who said they were doing it to save fuel. When the war ended, the U.S. government wisely repealed the law since it proved unpopular. During WWII, it came back — again with the notion that it would somehow conserve resources.

After the second war, the U.S. converted factories from making bombs to making cars and consumer products. The GIs came home. But Daylight Saving Time just stuck around. Many polls show that people want to stay in Daylight Saving Time year round, or at least just stick with either Standard or Daylight time and stop switching clocks around. Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, already keep their clocks the same all year long.

We may have reached a tipping point to end the clock-changing madness.

First, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a report in 2008 that examined the impact of extended Daylight Saving Time. A four-week extension would save approximately 0.5% of electricity per day for the country. Put in perspective, it’s enough energy to power 100,000 households for a year.

The second strong case for staying in Daylight Saving Time year round is that we can save lives. A recent study shows the switching of clocks in the spring causes a 25% jump in heart attacks in the few days following the switch, confirming earlier research that point out the shift in time can disrupt the quality of sleep and biological rhythms.

Taking away an hour of sleep and jolting you awake in the predawn darkness is simply bad for your health, especially if you are elderly or have a heart condition, researchers noted.

So here’s the question: If you have a chance to save lives and save electricity, would you do it?

Sure you would, right? But you haven’t, and neither have I. Why? Maybe because we’re all a little too sleep deprived and discombobulated to do something after all that clock-changing.

Last year, a member of the Missouri legislature proposed moving the state to permanent Daylight Saving Time if 19 other states would join its effort. The state House voted to approve the measure, HB340, but it didn’t go anywhere in the Missouri Senate.

This idea is smart and worth revisiting. The hard part is how to get this idea more traction. Here’s an alternative proposal: Legislatures pass a bill whereby if at least 31 other states pass similar bills, their state will then switch to permanent Daylight Saving Time. With Arizona and Hawaii already in, that adds up to two-thirds, or 33, states. Thirty-three is the number of states needed to pass a constitutional amendment, and while this is not a constitutional issue, it seems like a good standard to meet.

So how can we convince all these local governments to take on this initiative?

We need help from students, who can create interdisciplinary projects combining science, math, social studies and government, to show why we need to get rid of this outdated concept. If we all pitch in a little, we’ll be able to save energy and lives.

But put another way, it’s just about time. And Lord knows we all could use a little more.

Sure had lots of emails decrying the choice for the Ebola Czar. A lawyer for a medical crisis is much worse than the fox guarding the hen house. It’s the fox guarding the hen house while holding the key to the front door.

Seems I recall that lots of those lawyer fellers made themselves millionaires by handling a medical crisis. Now I’ve got nothing against lawyers in general. They, like everyone else, have a job to do in this life. Some good, some bad, and some real bad. I heard one time, the real bad lawyers try their damnest to get elected to public office. By the looks of things in this country, it would appear that most have succeeded in that quest. Now I’m not saying that Harry Reid is a real bad lawyer, I’m saying he’s been in public office longer than he was a lawyer in the private sector. I’m sure he’s never used his public office for personal gain. I’m also sure that if asked, he would say no he has not. I also heard in lawyer school, they teach you how to lie like a champion.

Last week I indicated the selection of the Ebola Czar was a political decision and nothing else. An EastWing friend in Colorado had a different point of view. He made a argument on the statement made and did not try to kill the messenger like most folks who disagree with what I have to say. In response to that point of view, I’ll propose this and hope someone remembers and holds me to task if I’m wrong.

If a lawyer for a medical job, then why not a doctor or dentist for a lawyer job. It’s the right thing to do. And it will create a level playing field. I guarantee the appointment for the replacement of the Attorney General will not be a doctor or a dentist. Should a replacement be necessary on the Supreme Court, I’ll also guarantee it will not be a doctor or dentist, or even a tattoo artist. Although either would be better suited than what’s there right now.

Guess the president will have to consult Harry Reid. It’s a “Birds Of a Feather” thing, you know.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, Killing Time, Lawyering Up With The Ebola Czar, Bird Feathers & Harry Reid

Every news cast on every channel along with all print media and talk radio lead every opening broadcast with Ebola horror stories. WE DO NOT HAVE AN EBOLA PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES. We do have public concern because of a panic driven story by the public news media.

Stop and think about it for a few seconds. Three people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. One person has died.

During the time that Ebola news has held the public in a state of mild panic, our nation has experienced over 1,400 people dying of flu and double that number die of cancer. More than 400 people have been shot and over 50 of those have died on the city streets of Chicago.

The point being, at this point Ebola is not a public health issue. Should that change, I’ll be the first to yell “wolf” on the Ebola matter. What this does do is point out how unprepared our health care delivery system is for handling such a disease as Ebola. More importantly it illustrates in spades how the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has been turned from a true guardian of the public health to another political tool for the current administration.

All can rest well knowing we now have an “Ebola Czar”. A person selected by the President, not for his knowledge of medicine or the health care delivery system, rather for this ability to dole out money for the “Shovel Ready Projects” when the Obama Stimulus Package hit the streets. Shovel Ready Projects which the President later admitted did not even exist.

So now maybe we’ll throw a few billion dollars toward a crisis generated by the news media. Then the story will go away as yet another Hero Czar will ride into the sunset. Much like that hero czar that road into the sunset from the IRS. Don’t remember her name, seems it was Lois, or something like that. With this administration, it’s truly amazing how fast they want us to forget their hero czars.

One of the really nice things about early autumn is that time between when the calendar says fall and the world turns cold. That last week of September and a couple weeks or so into October. For many, it’s the perfect weather. 60 – 70’s during the day and 40 – 50° at night.

In early autumn it’s fun waiting for the mosquitoes to go away. This year they have been a particular problem. Many times over the years here at the EastWing the mosquitoes have been held in check by the lack of rain in late August and early September. Not so much so this year. The time this year when I’d expect the little fellers to dry up and blow away, it rained some 17” in that late August – early September time frame. Then a whole new crop came on.

Mr. Bentley and I drove the golf cart across the road into the field and by the time we were back home both were suffering from anemia. These late blooming mosquitoes don’t just stick you with their proboscis. Oh no, they carry razor blades, open up a hole and use a straw.

Now not everybody knows how these little fellers works, so I’ll just take a second and share some info on why these little ones cause us so much misery. It’s the girls that do all the biting. Yeah, the girls do all the biting. They have to because in order to lay those little eggs in the outside standing water that everyone tells ya to dump out, and ya don’t, that’s the water I’m talking about, they must have a chemical in human blood. It’s the red part the girls are looking for. The stuff called hemoglobin keeps the world mosquito population happy and all the rest of us itching away in the summer time.

Hemoglobin is part of the makeup of our red blood cells. It’s the red part. Without the hemoglobin our red blood cells don’t work right. And when the red blood cells don’t work right, well you don’t want to go there. If you doctor ever told you that you have low iron, then prescribed iron pills. You were being treated for low hemoglobin. Course sometimes when hillbillies are feeling a little puny, we just suck on a rusty nail. Tuff bunch.

The time has come for my pretty little hummingbirds to fly away. They came to the south window of the EastWing three weeks ago. Just a little after the first light of day they came to the window, hovered within a few inches of the glass, a short 3’ from me. Close to 10 seconds the hovered. We said our end of summer goodbyes, then George & Molly flew away. I know they’re gone because the hummingbird feeder has not been touched since. I’ll leave the feeder up another week, but I’m sure George & Molly are gone. They told me they’d be back when it’s once again springtime in the valley.

One of the most amazing metamorphosis I’ve seen in some time is not the butterfly and the Milk Weed, it’ Spike The Man Cat. With the passing of my dear Sophia, The Man Cat as assumed the position of Official Man Cat of the EastWing. In the past, Spike spent most of his time by himself. He seldom ever had a need to even be in the same room with me. He had well established petting times thru out the week when he would come and present himself for petting. Otherwise Spike stayed away.

Did ya ever have a cat that takes every step with you? The Man Cat does. When I sit at the computer in the EastWing, The Man Cat lays at my feet. It’s not enough to lay close, his head must lay on my foot. At bed time, it’s Spike outside the bathroom door, then hops onto the foot of the bed. I may have to look into Spike’s background to see where he came from. Don’t even know if he’s Democrat or Republican.

It would be nice to have a Republican Cat around again. Sure hope he’s not a Democrat. Lord knows we’ve got enough of those around already. We’ll see, but kinda worried. Seems Spike does lay around a lot just sleeping, and when awake looking for handouts.

Have you ever been so wrong on the side of so right? Well yours truly mush have been on the wrong side of right this past week. A most damning email pointed out the ills of my way of thinking when it comes to the true progressive wishes of our society. After much thought and consideration of the benefits which we all will receive when the true progressive faction sweeps across our great land. I join the cause. I’ve seen the light. I’ve been converted. I intend to spread the word far and wide. I will do my part to ensure the progressive way of thinking is preached to all who will listen. I am a soldier in the battle for the hearts and minds of those less enlightened poor souls who have yet to see the way. Can I get an amen on that?

With the above statement being made, I now agree with our Native American population. I am highly insulted by the racially charged name of the Washington Redskins. One might argue that to name a professional football team after Native Americans would exalt them as fine warriors, but no, oh no. We must be careful not to offend. In the spirit of political correctness and courtesy, we must move forward and right the wrongs inflected upon these Native Americans. We now mustalso turn our attention to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. They too must change their ways and repent for their past sins to the Indians.

And what about those Washington Redskins making fun of skin color. Once again a big corporation is picking on the least of our brothers. Shame on them. And also shame on those Cleveland Browns for the very same reason. They both must change their ways for the benefit of mankind. All too long these two have been making fun of skin color and no one has spoken up to correct such an appalling wrong. This cancer must now be removed from our society.
The Carolina Panthers obviously were named to keep the memory of militant Blacks from the 60’s alive. So, as a white boy, I’m now offended by this name. That Carolina Panther name just has to go.

The New York Yankees offend the whole southern part of the country. Do you see a team named for the Confederacy? No! And for good reason, there is no room for any reference to that tragic war that cost this country so many young men’s lives. Those damn Yankees must choose another name.

I am also offended by the blatant references to the Catholic religion among our sports team names. It’s totally inappropriate to have the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Angels or the San Diego Padres. Even though I’m Catholic, I still know that these names are offensive to the non believers in our society. We must protect their feelings while they’re here on earth. Course when they go to HELL, well they just went where the Lord thought best.

Then there are the team names that glorify criminals who raped and pillaged the whole world. We are talking about the horrible Oakland Raiders, the Minnesota Vikings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Pirates! It’s clear that these teams represent the worst in our society and must be retrained to become productive members of the community in which they live.

We must always be on the lookout for organizations sending the wrong messages to our village children. Yes, I have bought into the Hillary Clinton theory that “It takes a village to raise a child”. The San Diego Chargers promote irresponsible fighting or even unbridled spending of funds you don’t have. Such a wrong messages to send to our children. These messages cannot be tolerated in a progressive society.

The New York Giants and the San Francisco Giants both promote obesity, a growing childhood epidemic. Such a wrong message to our children. The Cincinnati Reds promote downers/barbiturates. Another wrong message to our children. These professional sports teams need to be sanctioned by the First Lady of the United States for doing such damage to the youth of our nation, in particular their dietary needs. At the very least, she should draw a line across home plate, and when it’s crossed then ask her husband to impose sanctions.
The Milwaukee Brewers. Well that goes without saying. Underage alcohol use has forever been a problem in our society. Too long we have looked the other way and allowed this Milwaukee baseball team to promote alcoholism. This must stop. I’m offended beyond words at this blatant effort to push alcohol to our youth.

So, there you go. WE PROGRESSIVES cannot stand by and watch as sports teams, from sand lot to professional, continue to lay waste to our society by such offensive names. Something must be done.

In order to make sure everyone gets their fair share, it would be necessary that all sports teams, from sandlot to professional, and residing east of the Mississippi River, need to select a name from the vegetable group. All sports teams residing west of the Mississippi River, from sandlot to professional, they will select a name from the fruit and nut group. This name selection process can help meet the President’s goal of having a level playing field for all. And besides, it’s the right thing to do.

Much thought and consideration has gone into proposing the western states choose names from the fruit & nut group. After all, we do know there’s lots of fruits and nuts out there in California. Does the name “Nancy Pelosi” sound like a nut?

A long time ago, on a talk radio channel out of Chicago, I heard an interview with a man who described a growing phenomenon that he said would have a profound effect on American business.

I didn’t believe this new trend would ever occur. He called it “political correctness.” I had never heard the term “PC.” But as the years passed, his predictions about changing conditions and business pressures have proven to be accurate.

As a result of PC, developing clear policies is essential for the effective operation of any business, and the specific wording requires care and caution in order to be “correct” and avoid unintended consequences. But recently that caution seems to have resulted in a trend in businesses wherein the opinions and beliefs of some people overpower those of others.

Sometimes that might be only one person, but without consistent policies, a single individual can negate what countless others have valued for many years.

The pressing question is: What makes that person’s belief or position take precedence over those of others with differing perspectives? Can we operate businesses successfully and accept the notion that one point of view is more important and more powerful than an alternative point of view?

In the old television program, “You Bet Your Life,” Groucho Marx said, “Say the magic word, and a duck will come down and give you $50.” In today’s world, the magic word seems to be “offended.”

Now days the duck doesn’t produce a $50 bill, but it’s changing the names of holidays, removing decorations or symbols from work locations, censoring the names of mascots, and prohibiting wearing certain clothing or accessories in the workplace. We’ve seen the workplace and classrooms become devoid of the touches and the symbols that define the people inhabiting them.

Not long ago, it was possible to learn about a person just by entering his or her workspace — be it a small cubicle, a large private office, or a retail store. The pictures, plaques, trophies and other items on display provided insight into family status, religious affiliation and military service. My office at, RHCO INC., is a good example of what I’m talking about.

Today, those clues have largely disappeared because someone found them offensive. People working in the locations were expected to remove the items because of the sensitivities of others. Schools and businesses have come to the point where displaying certain personal items or wearing certain clothes or accessories are grounds for discipline.

We risk becoming homogenized rather than diverse — evolving into a one-size-fits-all society in which a small group of individuals determines acceptable behavior for all. The grandson of an acquaintance of mine was removed from his classroom because he was wearing (proudly) the division patch his grandfather had worn in combat during World War II because a teacher’s aide was offended by the military symbol.

By coincidence, on the same day his father was told to remove an American flag pin from his suit jacket prior to joining a meeting at his office because it might offend another participant.

How did displaying an American flag become offensive? As a side note, when I tried to purchase a few small American flags, a clerk at the store told me, “We don’t stock those things anymore.”

In businesses and schools, we now have winter and spring holidays. Pro athletic teams are being pressured to accept names that won’t offend anyone.

If the trend continues, we might see the demise of such names as the Vikings, Packers and Cowboys. And if other activists enter the forum, we might even see the end of the Bears, Broncos, Dolphins, Jaguars, Panthers, to name a few. It’s probably safe to point out that almost everything and anything might offend somebody.

You won’t be starting an argument; you’ll be stating an equally valid opinion.

Now for those bleeding heart liberals yelling for $15.00 per hour without any concept of what they are proposing or the impact on commerce. And yes, I’m including the “Leader of The Band” in this group, Just think about these facts for a while:

For those fast food employees striking for $15 an hour, let’s do a little math. At $15 an hour you would make $31,200 annually. An E1 (Private) in the military makes $18,378. An E5 (Sergeant) (Petty Officer 2nd Class) with 8 years of service only makes $35,067 annually.

Now you are telling me, that you deserve as much as those kids getting shot at, deploying for months in hostile environments while wearing bullet proof vests and steel helmets in 100° sunshine day after day. Just keep in mind they’re putting their collective lives on the line every day protecting your unskilled butt!?

Here’s the real life deal, burger mister, you are working in a job designed for a kid in high school who is learning how to work and earning enough for gas, and hanging out with their equally goofy high school pals. If you have chosen this as your life long profession, you have failed.

If you don’t want minimum wage, you must bring something to the workplace other than minimum work skills.

Stay safe in Afghanistan while protecting the freedom of the burger misters of our society.

Never in my life would I have guessed how the passing of my beloved Sophia, The Calico Conservative Republican Cat, would produce such an outpouring of commiseration. For the kind words and thoughts offered in memory of Sophia, I thank you one and all.

The sheer volume of condolences almost overwhelmed my email system. My normal email pattern for something said at the EastWing on a Sunday Evening is to start to get feedback late Wednesday. By Tuesday Morning of last week, I’d received more email than I’d received in the whole month of August. And it kept coming, and still is. Much as I’d like to, I simply can’t answer each and every email, but if you sent, then you know how much your email means to me.

I do have to acknowledge one item delivered by UPS Overnight. My long time friends here at the EastWing may recall that about three and a half years ago Sophia had a visitor from out by that west Texas town of El Paso. I told the story of the Cowboy who came to see if Sophia was real or just a figment of my imagination. The Cowboy met and fell in love with Sophia and offered to take her back to West Texas. Sophia choose the EastWing.

Last Thursday the Brown USP Truck brought two items. The first was a hand written letter from the Cowboy telling me how much he enjoyed meeting Sophia and me. The second item was a small wreath that he asked I place on Sophia’s grave. That little wreath, well that little wreath was made out of rope, Cowboy Rope. The kind he uses to work the cattle on his ranch. Said he’d always remember Sophia, told him I would too. Damn Republican Cat.

Last week I forgot to tell ya, “the seasons are a changing”. And to think I would have told you we would fall into Autumn before we meet again. I didn’t say, but we did anyway. The She’s favorite time of the year. I think it’s all the pretty colors everywhere you look that makes the She fall in love with the fall.

A short time back a US Senate vote went largely unreported in our country. Not a single main stream media carried the story on the nightly news. The event was the Senate voting to ratify UN Resolution 2117. Now UN Resolution 2117 is an attempt by the United Nations to impose worldwide gun control.

President Obama signed this Resolution 2117 on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America. But it’s not that simple. In order for UN Resolution 2117 to become the Law Of The Land, it must be approved by the U.S. Senate.

The U.N. Resolution 2117 lists 21 points dealing with firearms control, but perhaps the one of most interest is point number 11. It: ” CALLS FOR MEMBER STATES TO SUPPORT WEAPONS COLLECTION and DISARMAMENT of all UN countries” . The President of the United States signed that resolution on behalf of you and me.
The vote 53-46. The U.S. Senate voted 53 opposed to, and 46 in favor of the Resolution 2117. Not much news media of this vote. Now, Which 46 Senators Voted to Destroy Us? Well, let’s have their names become well known! I’ve listed their names below. If you vote in one of the states listed with these 46 “legislators” I’m encouraging you to vote against them.

In that 53-46 vote, the Senate narrowly passed a measure that will stop the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. The Statement of Purpose from the Senate Bill reads: “To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.” The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama Administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S. and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry, now get this, on all private guns and ammo.

Astonishingly, 46 out of our 100 United States Senators were willing to give away our Constitutional rights to a foreign power. That foreign power being the United Nations Organization.

Guess you could add Barak Obama’s name to the above list, but his signature didn’t count when it was time to vote to protect the constitutional rights of Americans.

Did anybody notice a lack of any Republicans on the above list of traitors to the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States? Yeah, I noticed that too.

Now before some “Progressive” starts accusing me of being some kinda poorly educated, gun packing, hillbilly preacher from the back roads of Appalachia, I’m not. I can both READ and WRITE, I do not own a gun, but have been accused of being a Hillbilly Preacher. Guess that comes from an early childhood where all the uncles on both my father and mother side were Hillbilly Preachers. As a little feller, I thought the words “Uncle and Preacher” were one and the same. It was in my world, back in the day, Uncles were Preachers.

The other day I made a purchase at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, looking like a deer in the headlights, while staring at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she called the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried……

Why do I tell you this? Because just in case you don’t already know, things have changed in the public school systems over the last half century. Sure you thought math was one field of knowledge that was absolute. Once learned forever known.

Well maybe not so much so. It turns out that those who I’m sure, consider themselves way smarter than you and I, have devised a new plan to educate the masses in the field of mathematics.

The evolution in teaching math since the 1960s is striking. For those of you who still know how to calculate without paper, pencil, or calculator, using only your mind, this may be depressing. I share your dismay.

1. Teaching Math In 1950s (when I attended the Tip Top Elementary School System, Tip Top KY) A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?

2. Teaching Math In 1970s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1980s : A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit ?Yes or No

4. Teaching Math In 1990s : A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20 Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 2000s : A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok).

6. Teaching Math In 2014 : Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho? ANSWER: His profit was $375,000 because his logging business is just a front for his pot farm.

Back in the late 70s and 80s, I sat on the North Judson School Board for some 12 years or so. Saw this coming down the pike. Then proposed we address the matter of dumbing down society. Was informed that matter was something to be left to the professional educators. That it was an issue being addressed by the goals and objectives of the National Teachers Association. As well as the Indiana State Teachers Association. So I had nothing to worry about.

Guess we can all now judge the way the National Teachers Association and the Indiana State Teachers Association handled my fears of dumbing down society. Sad but true, all too often many if not most students graduating from high school cannot make change for any financial transaction without some kind of mechanical device to provide the calculations.

So unless you want to make the little counter girl at Burger King cry, don’t give her both bills and coins unless at the same time unless they total the correct amount of your purchase.

In life there’s a time for everything. A time to frown, a time to smile, A time to laugh, a time to cry. A time to live, a time to die. And so it was for my dear Sophia, The Conservative Calico Republican Cat, her time to die.

Friendship is one of the many gifts from God. Be it boy, girl, dog, cat, turtle or fish, when that friendship ends it hurts. A lot. A real lot.

Damn Republican Cat.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, Making Change At Burger King, Old Math Going Going Gone Away, That Cat Was A Friend of Mine, Damn Republican Cat

It seems that I was not the only one to have experienced issues with lightening messing up everything from telephone to toasters to TV to whole house everything electrical that was plugged into the grid. So in that respect I’m lucky to have escaped with the minor amount of EastWing damage that did occur.

We also heard from friends who related stories about when the lightening walked about way back in the day. It was equally devastating then, just less electrical stuff to blow up or burn out. Any way any time anywhere, the power of nature is a site to behold.

Did you know that this past Saturday Night we were almost overwhelmed in the worst storm in the last twenty five years? Oh, you didn’t see that storm. Well you didn’t actually get to see this one. It’s not like rain or snow. Or for that matter not even like blowing sand. Yet it’s blowing at a speed far, far faster than any storm which has blown thru the EastWing.

Even faster than that winter night, with a raging blizzard going on outside, when the She burned something in the oven and the whole house filled with dense smoke. The only way to clear the house was I opened the upstairs bedroom windows, then opened the east door of the EastWing. The wind blew so strong thru the house it pulled out all the smoke. That wind cleared all the smoke in less than 5 minutes. Not only was that blizzard driven wind clearing the smoke from the She’s kitchen, it was also pulling the snow thru the whole house.

The way I was able to determine that all the smoke had been blown from the house was when the air was only filled with snow and no smoke. Yeah, even faster than that kinda storm.

Now while we are accustom to getting our storms coming at us from the west, or even the southwest, this one came a different direction. The sun, yes the sun, the fastest blowing storm ever came not from the cold north, but directly from the sun. As a matter of fact, the sun last week produced two major storms, and the energy from both storms is headed toward
Earth.

What’s a solar storm? Basically, the sun is a giant ball of gas: 92.1% hydrogen and 7.8% helium. Every now and then, it spits out a giant burst of gas that contains magnetic properties called a coronal mass ejection.

The energy from those two ejections is now hitting Earth. Space weather experts aren’t sure what this solar storm will do.

So I guess it’s kinda a wait and see type storm. We’ll see. Or maybe we won’t see. These type storms do have the ability to shut down all electronic communications on this planet. That would be a bummer ‘cause people would have to start talking face to face. I suppose for some of those who insist on TEXTING two people at a time, you’d just have to go back being two faced. Just saying.

Being its late Sunday Evening at the EastWing and the cell phone, wireless in-house phone system, blue tooth, iPad, Lap Top Computer, Wi-Fi, Satellite TV, and satellite internet connection, radios AM & FM, all still working, guess it’s safe to say that once again we’ve dodged a bullet from space.

Last week when I talked about the Obama Administration proposing to replace chocolate in s’mores with fruit, I got a real nasty email from a lady in New Jersey taking me to task for making up such a story. That email arrived late last Monday Evening. Last Friday I got the apology email from the same lady informing me that she had just read the same thing in print in her local paper and felt she owed me an apology for offending me. She did not offend me. Truth is truth and no believing truth is never offensive, disappointment maybe, sad maybe, but never offending.

Today ISIS beheads the third man in the sand and grabs world headlines. Guess our guy saw the video then hit the links. After all its Sunday and you can’t expect him to work on Sunday. He’s union ya know, they don’t work overtime without double pay for Sunday.

Did you catch President Obama’s speech last week when he said he will bomb both ISIS and Syria ‘cause it’s the right thing to do. Not going to fight anyone, just bomb and go home. We will train the group in Syria who is just a little bit better than ISIS to fight ISIS for us. YEAH RIGHT! And we all know how this is going to play out.

While the world watches ISIS the domestic world at home goes to pot with a capital P and that stands for Poverty. Some interesting fact I ran across the other day.

Since Obama became president over 11 million working age Americans have left the workforce.

Twenty percent of U.S. families don’t have a single member who is employed.

Under Obama the food stamp rolls have grown 75 times faster than jobs created.

33.3% of Americans are now on welfare.

U.S. jobs pay 23% less now than in 2008. $47,000 vs. $61,000 that’s $93 Billion in lost wages.

For the first time in the history of this nation, more small businesses fail each day than startup.

And this nation voted for hope and change. Twice. Then sure enough it changed, just like the man said it would.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

Greeting to all and welcome new friends to the EastWing.

It seems that I was not the only one to have experienced issues with lightening messing up everything from telephone to toasters to TV to whole house everything electrical that was plugged into the grid. So in that respect I’m lucky to have escaped with the minor amount of EastWing damage that did occur.

We also heard from friends who related stories about when the lightening walked about way back in the day. It was equally devastating then, just less electrical stuff to blow up or burn out. Any way any time anywhere, the power of nature is a site to behold.

Did you know that this past Saturday Night we were almost overwhelmed in the worst storm in the last twenty five years? Oh, you didn’t see that storm. Well you didn’t actually get to see this one. It’s not like rain or snow. Or for that matter not even like blowing sand. Yet it’s blowing at a speed far, far faster than any storm which has blown thru the EastWing.

Even faster than that winter night, with a raging blizzard going on outside, when the She burned something in the oven and the whole house filled with dense smoke. The only way to clear the house was I opened the upstairs bedroom windows, then opened the east door of the EastWing. The wind blew so strong thru the house it pulled out all the smoke. That wind cleared all the smoke in less than 5 minutes. Not only was that blizzard driven wind clearing the smoke from the She’s kitchen, it was also pulling the snow thru the whole house.

The way I was able to determine that all the smoke had been blown from the house was when the air was only filled with snow and no smoke. Yeah, even faster than that kinda storm.

Now while we are accustom to getting our storms coming at us from the west, or even the southwest, this one came a different direction. The sun, yes the sun, the fastest blowing storm ever came not from the cold north, but directly from the sun. As a matter of fact, the sun last week produced two major storms, and the energy from both storms is headed toward
Earth.

What’s a solar storm? Basically, the sun is a giant ball of gas: 92.1% hydrogen and 7.8% helium. Every now and then, it spits out a giant burst of gas that contains magnetic properties called a coronal mass ejection.

The energy from those two ejections is now hitting Earth. Space weather experts aren’t sure what this solar storm will do.

So I guess it’s kinda a wait and see type storm. We’ll see. Or maybe we won’t see. These type storms do have the ability to shut down all electronic communications on this planet. That would be a bummer ‘cause people would have to start talking face to face. I suppose for some of those who insist on TEXTING two people at a time, you’d just have to go back being two faced. Just saying.

Being its late Sunday Evening at the EastWing and the cell phone, wireless in-house phone system, blue tooth, iPad, Lap Top Computer, Wi-Fi, Satellite TV, and satellite internet connection, radios AM & FM, all still working, guess it’s safe to say that once again we’ve dodged a bullet from space.

Last week when I talked about the Obama Administration proposing to replace chocolate in s’mores with fruit, I got a real nasty email from a lady in New Jersey taking me to task for making up such a story. That email arrived late last Monday Evening. Last Friday I got the apology email from the same lady informing me that she had just read the same thing in print in her local paper and felt she owed me an apology for offending me. She did not offend me. Truth is truth and no believing truth is never offensive, disappointment maybe, sad maybe, but never offending.

Today ISIS beheads the third man in the sand and grabs world headlines. Guess our guy saw the video then hit the links. After all its Sunday and you can’t expect him to work on Sunday. He’s union ya know, they don’t work overtime without double pay for Sunday.

Did you catch President Obama’s speech last week when he said he will bomb both ISIS and Syria ‘cause it’s the right thing to do. Not going to fight anyone, just bomb and go home. We will train the group in Syria who is just a little bit better than ISIS to fight ISIS for us. YEAH RIGHT! And we all know how this is going to play out.

While the world watches ISIS the domestic world at home goes to pot with a capital P and that stands for Poverty. Some interesting fact I ran across the other day.

Since Obama became president over 11 million working age Americans have left the workforce.

Twenty percent of U.S. families don’t have a single member who is employed.

Under Obama the food stamp rolls have grown 75 times faster than jobs created.

33.3% of Americans are now on welfare.

U.S. jobs pay 23% less now than in 2008. $47,000 vs. $61,000 that’s $93 Billion in lost wages.

For the first time in the history of this nation, more small businesses fail each day than startup.

And this nation voted for hope and change. Twice. Then sure enough it changed, just like the man said it would.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, Lightning All The Way, A Smoke Blizzard In The EastWing, A Sun Storm Came By, Never Say The “W” Word, Facts To Support The Capital P

It was the Friday Evening starting the Labor Day Weekend that me and the She were driving home from a dinner out with #1 Son and Heather. Dinner at a top notch Mexican Restaurant in Merryville IN made for a fun evening.

While driving home from Demotte to the EastWing we were entertained by one of the more spectacular Indiana Summer Time Thunder Storms. It was all Lightning at a distance, minimum thunder, and even less rain. An amazing light show from God.

The lighting was the star of the night sky. You seldom see three bolts of lightning in the sky at the same time. That night three and sometimes even four bolts of lightning at the same time in the sky was common. As the thunder rolled, the lightning walked the horizon as far as we could see, north to south, as far as we could see. There were several times where Mr. Lincolns automatic headlights were turned off by the extended brightness of the light show. In fact, I flipped the headlights to “manual” just to be on the save side.

All the way home, right up to the EastWing driveway the light show continued. It was when I walked into the EastWing that I knew something was amiss. A little piece of plastic was in the middle of the floor on the north side of the room. I picked that little broken plastic piece and realized it used to be white was a part of the telephone jack from 24 ft away on the south side of the room.

Not knowing the extent of the telephone damage, but knowing the outside lightning show was truly a one of a kind change see. Also knowing that it would not be playing again anytime soon in my neighborhood, I choose to watch the show. So I turned off all the lights in the EastWing, sat back and continued to watch the magic. It was a good call.

After the storm passed it was time to survey the damage. The in house phone system was destroyed. Every wall jack exploded with such force that it broke the plastic cover into several pieces. The phone system consisted of one base unit and four other hand sets. The base unit blew up. The four hand sets were not plugged into the phone line so they appear to be ok.

The She’s favorite floor lamp’s base was touching a floor mounted phone jack. The electricity jumped into the metal lamp. I found the lamp bulb welded in place in the socket. The lamp cord melted inside the tube coming from the base up to the socket containing the bulb.

To add insult to injury, the satellite TV as well as the satellite internet service were both out. With that realization I knew it was going to be a long, long Labor Day Weekend. Not having repair numbers for the TV or internet service, I called Johnny on the She’s cell phone to have him get me those number.

First thing Saturday Morning I was on the phone to the satellite internet provider. After walking thru all the diagnostic steps again. The feller decided the modem had to be replaced. He said “Today there will be no shipping charge, you’ll only have to pay for the modem. It’s $175.99”. I said “No.” He said “After all sir, the modem failed from an act of God and surly you would not expect us to cover an act of God.” Now if the guy had said most anything except an act of God, maybe I’d have been more receptive to paying for the modem. He made me mad.

I told the ole boy right, “God didn’t have anything to do with your modem failure. He’s got more important things to do than worry about your cheap equipment failure. Consider this your company notice to cancel my internet service. I don’t care to do business with any company dumb enough to call a failed modem an act of God.” Said he could not cancel my account but could transfer me to someone who could. Said he was sorry if he offended me. I told him that he didn’t offend me, but he should maybe spend a little quite time pondering what he said about the modem failure being an act of God. Said he would, and sent me on my way to those who could cancel my account.

She was an Indian Lady. Red Dot, not feather. Heavy accent, most difficult to understand. I told her right up, that I only wanted her to cancel my account as of right now. She begged me to explain why I so wanted to end the service. Told her the prior ole boy wanted me to pay $175.99 for a modem, and I could get the same service from another provider and they would provide me with a new modem.

Miss Calcutta pleaded for me to give her two minutes to put me on hold. I agreed. At 1 minute 42 seconds she returned with the news that she was sending me a new modem at no charge and to show the company’s good faith, she would next day air ship, all at no cost to me. All of a sudden I was liking doing business with these folks again. The modem arrived the following Tuesday.

The satellite TV company pretty much went the same rout as far as trying to diagnosis the issue. After all the protocol was followed, it was concluded that a company tech needed to come to my house to solve the problem. Then I was so surprised when the guy said “the tech will be there Monday Sept 1st. And sure enough, ‘bout 1 o’clock or so the tech came and fixed the satellite TV. It was two down and one to go.

After getting off the phone with the satellite TV company the phone company, Century Link, was contacted. I finally was able to talk to a live person. Seems with the phone company, getting that accomplished is major victory. I described in some detail the carnage which had occurred within my phone system at the EastWing.

The phone lady had all the sympathy of a bulldozer when she said “Sir I have no reason to doubt your word, but I must tell you that when the repair man comes out and determines that the problem is caused by customer origination there will be an $80.00 truck fee. I asked her what did the word origination mean. There was a measurable pause. I told her that I did know, was just joking. Then asked if the problem did not stem from customer origination did I get an Eighty Dollar credit on my phone bill. Again there was that measurable pause. The phone lady said the repair would be done on Tuesday, September 2nd. The night time came that Tuesday without me ever seeing that little repair truck. On Wednesday I called telephone repair to see if they needed directions to my house. They assured me that the phone would be fixed the very next day. Thursday night came and morning followed and still no telephone repair.

The Friday call to Century Link was not a pretty site. It got real interesting when the party on the other end of the phone asked that I put the receiver on the hook to allow her to see if she could call my number. We had words. Once after again explaining the extent of the equipment damage at the EastWing, I was assured that the repair would be made at 3:00 PM. I was in the EastWing at 2:30 PM last Friday when the Century Link repair man knocked on my front door.

Without even looking at any of the damage, both outside and inside, he told me what he had to do. Replace all boxes all the way from the road. The outside junction box, along with all wall plugs inside the house. When I asked how he knew before he even surveyed the damage. Said he’d been repairing the very same damage on every call he’d been on since Tuesday Morning.

Very knowledgeable and most professional, that telephone repair man. Unlike the other contact with the phone company, this man not only knew how to repair my phone service, he also knew how to represent the phone company to the customers. He done both well.

And so now you know why we didn’t visit in the EastWing last Sunday. It’s good to be back in circulation. With all the things going on in the world, both home and abroad you’d think the Obama Administration would have more important issues to deal with other than the makeup of s’mores. Seems that MRS. PRESIDENT MICHELLE, has attempted to extend her food control into things eaten at the National Park System.

Now for my friends not totally versed in the fine art of marshmallow roasting I’ll just say, roasted marshmallows and Hershey’s Chocolate between two graham crackers. For many, it don’t get much better than that while setting around the campfire.

The Obama Administration has officially proposed that the Hershey Chocolate be replaced with fruit. Yes FRUIT ! Is that the dumbest thing you ever heard of or what.

There are some things in life ya just don’t mess with. You don’t tinker with the Big Mac’s Special Sauce. You don’t add a twelfth herb to the Colonel’s secret recipe. You don’t tug on Superman’s Cape. And you for sure don’t take the chocolate out of s’mores.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, A Dark And Stormy Night, Repair Service By The Phone, A Time For s’mores.

A few days ago I had the pleasure of conversing with a bright young man getting ready to start the 6th grade in a public school in Connecticut. We talked of many things. Laws in the State of Connecticut, rules and regulations in the public school, birthday day parties at school, Halloween, baseball, concealed weapons, and too many people and too little land.

“Some of the laws in Connecticut are so stupid, I’m almost embarrassed to talk about them in Indiana”, Andrew said. That statement was as if to qualify his remarks before the conversation began.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the stupid rules I have to put up with in my school.” “We no longer can have a birthday party at school, due to the possibility that someone in the class could be allergic to wheat or milk or sugar or all the good stuff you used to get to eat at birthday parties.” “It doesn’t matter that no one in the class is really allergic to any of that stuff, we still can’t have a birthday party because someone could be allergic and not know about it. So the teacher says better safe than sorry. To me that makes no sense at all, but I’m not the teacher, so no birthday parties.”

“In Place of a real birthday party at school, one parent and only one parent can come and read a story to the class. Both parents cannot come and read two stories. Because some students may have only one parent as so they would not be able to enjoy the stories if both parents came and read stories. To me that reason is even more stupid than the possibility of a wheat allergy. But again, I’m not the teacher, so it’s stories in place of cake.”

“Halloween in both my town and my school is a real joke. It’s against the rules to cover your face. It’s against the rules to display any type weapon. It’s against the rules to dress as any type person who has ever in the past, or could ever in the future commit acts of aggression. It’s against the rules to change your physical appearance. So these rules take out all the fun stuff. Cowboys are out, ‘cause the carry guns. We don’t even want to talk about pirates. You can’t even dress as a football player for two reasons. One is the football helmet covers your face. Two is football pads change your appearance. Last year a kid came to school with a shirt that had a number 8 on the front. He carried a sign that said “I’m a football player”. He was not a football player, just a kid with a number 8 on his shirt, carrying a dumb sign”.

We talked about baseball, Andrew and I. Told him I always wanted to be just the batter. Andrew said he too want to be the batter, until the first time he got hit with the fastball. Then he wanted to play somewhere else. Andrew said he had a “pretty good arm” so he played center field ‘cause he could get the ball back to the infield in one throw.

Andrew made a fist with his right hand. He then stuck his right thumb up in the air and extended this right index finger. He ask me. “What do you see?” I said finger and thumb. He agreed, then said “l just done the very same thing that a kid done in school and got sent home for pointing a gun at another kid”. “The teacher told us to never even think about making the sign of the gun, as that would lead to wanting real guns, and we all know how bad that is for society. To me pointing you finger-gun and being sent home from school is even dumber than not being able to have ice cream at school. Maybe that’s why we don’t finger paint anymore, the teacher is afraid we may shoot someone in finger painting class.”

My conversation with Andrew took place on a farmhouse patio one Saturday Afternoon. The only thing visible in any direction was open farm land with growing crops. The young man simply looked around and said “The view from here is amazing. It’s almost like you can see forever. Where I live you’re lucky sometimes if you can see a hundred foot. Here I can see for miles.”

I asked Andrew how would he describe where he lives. “Too many people and too little land.” When asked which was the most problem, Andrew said “Too many people, the amount of land is the same as when I first started.

Sometimes out of the mouths of babes, common sense and simple wisdom comes.

A couple weeks ago a lady called the office in a fairly high state of panic. Seems that she’d prepared her own personal and business tax returns and now had a letter from the dreaded IRS. Sid she needed to see me right away. Her appointment was first thing the next day.

Upon reviewing the IRS Letter and also her tax filing information, it became apparent that she had committed two of the four most common mistakes people make when they prepare their own business taxes. My assurance that this was a simple fix and no long term problems would result made a happy morning for the client.

Saturday last, marks a dark day in the history of American Presidents. 40 years ago on that day Richard Nixon resigned the office of President of The United States. Nixon has been the only President to resign that office in the history of our nation.

The men working for Nixon spied on the American people. They were accused of using the IRS to harass Nixon’s political enemies. Nixon wages war without consulting and receiving consent from Congress. Nixon and his people used the CIA as a tool to cover up their crimes.

Nixon, himself, said “No man is above the law”. The only reason Nixon resigned was it became clear that he would be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. Then tried and convicted the United States Senate. The votes were there, the hand writing was on the wall, and so Richard Nixon resigned the Office of the President of The United States.

Richard Nixon avoided prosecution only because the incoming President, Gerald Ford, provided a presidential pardon for Nixon as one of the very first actions President Ford undertook.

Many of my EastWing friends do not remember anything at all about the trying times this nation endured during the Nixon saga. So it’s important to put the sins of the disgraced former President Nixon into some prospective compared to the current administration in Washington DC.

The Nixon men illegally wiretapped their political opponents. Those doing the wiretapping were caught, tried and convicted, then went to jail. Nixon spied on a very small group of people. The Barack Obama NSA has wire tapped the entire nation. Every E-mail you have ever written has been exposed to the eyes of the Obama Administration.

Richard Nixon talked about using the IRS to harass his political opponents. There is no evidence that he did in fact do so. One of the Articles of Impeachment voted by the House of Representatives is the illegal use of the IRS to harass conservative groups. President Obama said on national TV “there is not even a smidgen of corruption in the IRS”. Yet a high ranking official in the IRS, the one in charge of issuing tax preferred status to conservative groups, took the 5th amendment when questioned by Congress. This same official lost 2 years of e-mails when her computer “crashed”. What’s really interesting is six other IRS employees who had received e-mails from the IRS official with the crashed computer, well, their computer also crashed and all their e-mails are also lost.

Just in the last few day have some of those “lost e-mails” been found, and they do present a most damming picture of corruption at the IRS. When an IRS Official calls a conservative applications “A—holes and Crazies” in the eyes of many, that would constitute a smidgen of corruption in the IRS. But President Obama said on national TV not a smidgen….., so guess we don’t have to worry about that any more.

Richard Nixon attempted to use the CIA to stop an investigation by the FBI into the Watergate break-in. That seems mild when you consider that the current CIA has admitted spying on members of the US Senate charged with investigating illegal activity of the CIA.

One thing the Nixon people never done was to spy on news reports. Can you imagine what would have happened if the Nixon Justice Department had opened the mail and tracked the movements of Walter Cronkite? That is just what the Obama Justice Department done the James Rosen of Fox News. Can’t help but wonder where is the outrage over the Obama Justice Department spying on news reporters.

One of the Articles of Impeachment of Richard Nixon was that he evaded Congress’ sole authority to declare war when he bombed Cambodia. Barack Obama bombed Libya he said that only he had the inherent authority to decide what is a “war” and that no congressional approval was necessary. He proceeded to bomb Libya, destroy its military and spend more than a billion dollars in borrowed money in support of one side, who was not aligned with the United States, in that civil war.

Nixon’s men considered the murder of an investigative journalist, Jack Anderson. Barack Obama has asserted that he has right to kill any U.S. citizen without a charge, let alone conviction.

Nixon was excoriated for the missing 18 and a half minutes in his White House tapes although his long-time Secretary Rose Mary Woods claimed to have erased them by mistake.

Now President Obama’s IRS says hundreds of thousands of documents regarding abuse against Tea Party and Conservative groups are “missing,” without any repercussion to date.

Richard Nixon was known for his “Enemies List”. The former head of the National Security Agency’s global digital data gathering program says the Barack Obama also has an enemies list stored by keyword, which has been used to take down perceived political enemies such as General Petraus. During his re-election campaign Obama even brazenly posted his enemies list on-line as a not-so-subtle threat not to donate to his opponents

Because of Obama’s iconic status on the left of the political spectrum, those liberals stand silent as Obama shreds the Constitution in ways Richard Nixon would have marveled at. Democrats scoff at the notion of the impeachment of Obama for crimes far more serious and reaching than of those committed by Richard Nixon.

Even his opposition will agree that Nixon’s opening a dialog with China was truly a foreign policy success that has not been matched to this date. Not even the most hardened supporters of Barack Obama cannot point to a single area of Foreign Policy that has improved on his watch. Not a single US relationship anywhere in the world has improved with Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. The new Secretary of State, John Kerry, demonstrates the same level of statesmanship as Hillary Clinton.

40 years after the fact, these same liberal fools are still highlighting the sins of a disgraced American President, while this current holder of the Office of The President of The United States, has done more to damage the nation and the world at large, than all the other American Presidents combined.

And they used to think Jimmy Carter was the worst president ever, then along came Obama.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From the EastWing, Richard Nixon + 40 Years, Crooks In Real Time, Worse Than Carter

Sunday summer sunshine and blue sky in the early morning as we loaded the SUV and prepared to say goodbye to our three day mountain playground. Not going home, just changing scenery this bright summer day.

For the first time since we arrived in Kentucky, today we have a schedule and do have a timeline to keep. Never being one much for breakfast on the fly, this morning we’re on the road watching Paintsville KY fade from the rear view mirror, all the while holding McBreakfast in hand.

Driving thru the section of Salyersville KY that was destroyed a short time back by the worst tornado in the history of Kentucky and seeing all the new rebirth in progress seems to make the sunshine even brighter. Setting at the traffic light at the entrance to the Mountain Parkway, I look to the right and ahead to see the new Catholic Church rising from the tornado aftermath.

On green light we entered the Mountain Parkway going west northwest and got up to speed of 65 mph within seconds. This is the high speed interstate road into southeastern Kentucky. Two days ago we traveled on the mountain roads of my childhood and seldom ever went much faster than 25 – 30 mph for many miles. Today we’re on the “Big Road”, so named by the locals when the Mountain Parkway was built back in the 1960’s. And what a road it is. Of all the interstate I’ve driven, this relative short strip of interstate from Winchester to Salyersville is my favorite one to drive. High speed travel thru the mountains makes for a fun Sunday Morning.

It’s down a hill, round a curve, and it seems just like that, the mountains of eastern Kentucky are behind us. Where just a short while back we watched Paintsville fade in the rear view mirror, now also fades the beautiful green mountains. Once again we’re flatlanders on the interstate. It’s nonstop thru Lexington and on to Frankfort, the capital city of Kentucky. No stopping there, got to get to river city by noon time.

It’s 12:15 in the PM as we pull into a parking garage so close to the river a thrown rock would make a splash. It’s up some stairs, over a cat walk and down the other side. That little trip puts us on the south side bank of the Ohio River looking at sweet home Indiana on the other side of the water.

Just to the right and less than a 100 yards up river sets the Belle Of Louisville. The last remaining paddle wheel boat still operating on the Ohio River. It’s a cruise ship offering both scenic cruise as well as a Sunday Luncheon Cruise. Now having left Paintsville KY several hours earlier with McBreakfast in hand, I’m sure you’ve got an idea where this one is going. Yep, we passed up a decent breakfast for a planned Luncheon Cruise on the Belle Of Louisville.

Johnny and I stood in line to get the boarding passes. The process was a combination of high tech and low tech. I told the girl “Howard party of 4”. She pulled up our names on her iPad. The other girl setting next to her, also found our names in a little metal box reminiscing of a receipt box. I think it must have been an alphabetical backup for the iPad. From the receipt box the girl drew out 4 blue ½ inch wide paper bands. She asked that I hold out my arm. I did so. The girl peeled off a strip on one end and made me a blue bracelet made of paper. She looked at Johnny and told him that everyone in our party needed to have a blue bracelet in order to go to the buffet. Johnny assured her that he would be able to get the bracelet on the rest of our party.

We sat on a bench by the water’s edge and marveled at the big boat in front of us. When me and the She very first got married, we moved to Tell City IN. We lived right across the road from a major bluff on the Indiana side. From that vantage point you could see the Ohio River for about a mile in either directions. Many times when we heard music of the steam calliope, we’d cross the road, go over and sit on the high bank above the mighty Ohio and watch the “Delta Queen” on her way from Pittsburg to New Orleans. We talked about what fun it would be to ride a paddle wheel steam boat down the Ohio River. We never did. Until today.

12:30 sharp the front of the line started to board the Belle of Louisville. In 10 minutes we were upstairs in the main ball room and the girl told us our table would be on the starboard side. Good thing she pointed us in the right direction. In the middle of the row (on the starboard side) we found our table. Finding the table was really easy. It helped that someone had place a sign in the middle of the table that read “RESERVED-HOWARD-PARTY-OF-4”

WOW ! I just sat and looked around, it was a walk back in time. The old saying they don’t build ships like this anymore sure held true for the Belle Of Louisville that first summer Sunday of July setting at the dock on the Ohio River.

It was a catered meal and so those responsible for such were scurrying like the worker bees they really were to make sure the meal was served at 1:00 PM sharp, so said the brochure. Just like they advertized, at 1 sharp those in charge of such things started lining table up to go to the buffet. We found ourselves about midway in the process. The meal was good, the desert was good, but no one asked to see my blue bracelet.

As we started to eat the Belle Of Louisville started to pull away from the dock and proceeded up river going east. After we were done eating, we went outside and climbed the stairs to the upper deck. There we sat and watch the world go by. An hour and half going east and an hour and half going west returned us to the start of our paddle wheel steamboat ride. It was fun.

Checking into the Ramada Inn of Louisville gave us just the right amount of time to get ready for the big finish of the day. This part of the trip had been planned in its own right. The trip to the mountains was added almost as an afterthought.

Johnny had bought the tickets on line quite some time ago. Both the She and Jaimie were most excited at the prospect of the live entertainment we were about to enjoy. The theater building was as spectacular as the Belle Of Louisville. Ya had to see it to believe it. Yep it was that pretty.

The show the She and Jaimie were so excited about, it was the dance troupe from DANCING WITH THE STARS. They loved the show. Personally, I preferred the show we seen the night before, TRANSFORMERS.

Early Monday Morning we crossed the Ohio River and became Hoosiers once again. About half way to Indianapolis we stopped at Edinburgh to look at an antique shop. Wondering around the antique store I saw a toy cash register. The same thing the She had asked to buy at the Webb Grocery Store in Butcher Holler. Picked up that little toy cash register, took it to the counter, paid for it and told the girl, I’ll be back.

When the She was done shopping, (without buying anything) I showed her the little cash register. The She smiled at me. I heard the EastWing calling, we were ready to go home, and so we did.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, A Paintsville Goodbye, Mountain Parkway Memories, The Belle Of Louisville, Dancing With The Stars, A Cash Register For The She

Me and the She and Johnny and Jaimie met for Saturday Morning Breakfast in the same restaurant where just the day before I’d had hot bologna, eggs and gravy for the morning meal. A breakfast for the Gods, some may say. I’d be one of those saying. This day the buffet was the way to go. It was an eat and go kinda day.

As I walked out of the restaurant and across the open banquet hall in the interior of the hotel, I remembered that the last time all my sisters and Mama were together was in this very banquet hall several years back. We had a birthday party for my oldest Sister Thelma.

Setting amongst the chickens of the EastWing is a picture of myself and the girls of my family. Mama, Thelma, Sharolette, Barbara, Kaye and me. Now that same picture, if taken today, would only be me and Sister Sharolette. Precious memories in these mountains. Right in this banquet room they linger.

I’d decided to visit the grave of my Sister Thelma at the cemetery high up on the hill at Salyersville. I’d not been there since Sister Thelma passed away. An interesting fact about funerals and cemeteries in the mountains. Not all cemeteries are accessible when the need arises. Weather conditions may determine access to the cemeteries, not death.

That seems like such a strange thing to say. Living in northern Indiana we never worry about access to cemeteries based on weather. Many cemeteries in Kentucky are high on the mountains. Some of the roads leading up those hills are not paved. And when it rains…. and the soil is clay. Well, if you’ve never had to try to get up a slick road in the mountains, you’re lucky. Ya mostly get muddy. Really muddy. One time me and Johnny got the 4 Wheel SUV stuck in the clay mud out there on Burning Fork Road. It was such a time. By the time we were out of the mud, you’d think we’d been off roading. Guess we were in a fashion, we were off the drive way by about 30 ft.

The weather was clear. It was a perfect day to visit the Salyersville Cemetery up there on the top of the hill. The gravesite was all the way to the other side of the cemetery from the entrance. It was not an easy trek. And so we parked and walked the last little bit.

The final resting place of my beloved Sister and Brother-In-Law Arthur. Thelma and Arthur had two sons, Pete and Steven. Both of my nephews names are engraved on the backside of the stone marking the grave of their parents. It turned out our lives were such that we never spent enough time in each other’s company. But that did not make us love each other any less, my Sister Thelma and me. If anything, more.

I sat alone on a stone bench up there in the Salyersville Cemetery for quite some time. Remembering, just remembering family that had gone away. Sisters three, dad and mama, two brother-in-laws, and nephew Pete. Just missing love ones while setting high on the mountain at the Salyersville Cemetery, on a seat made of granite.

As I looked around this cemetery, I didn’t see a single name I’d not heard before. Dates of life and death covering 200 years were recorded in the standing stones here on this mountain. It was then when it dawned on me, the very bench I’m setting on will still be in this place a hundred years after I’m gone. Melancholy thoughts of life and death and a bench of granite. I said another goodbye to Sister Thelma and Brother Arthur, then left the Mountain Cemetery of Salyersville.

We set our sights on the Bull Creek Traders over at Prestonsburg. No GPS travel this day, we all knew the way. Yesterday they told us the Bull Creek Traders would be in full swing. They told us right. Parking was a problem. Finally Johnny did find a place to park at one of the far ends. The game plan was up one side then down the other. And by that time we’d be back to the car.

The flea market seemed to sale everything you could think of. At a booth offering whisky shot glasses, Johnny asked if he could get the shot glass filled with moon shine. The ole boy didn’t even bat any eye, he just said “I don’t know you long enough”. I believe he meant it. Johnny didn’t pursue the timeframe. We did assume the acquaintance requirements exceeded our time available to be in the mountains. After all, we did have an afternoon date in a river town the next day.

By late afternoon, I for one, had enough walking at the Bull Creek Traders. It was a fun time at the flea market. Of course chickens were bought for new EastWing decorations. Speaking of chicken, the girls had a taste for, and off we went to see if Prestonsburg KY had a KFC. And sure enough there was a KFC in town. We dined in. Then off to Paintsville to get a Kentucky finish on the nails of Jaimie and the She. When they were finished there were pretty fingers all around.

As a grand finally for the fun day of playing in the mountain sunshine, the Paintsville Movie House was playing a first run 3-D Movie. It was a cowboy type theme. You know the kind….. Good guys, bad guys, then some of the bad guys see the fallacy of their bad guy ways and turn to the good side.

The hero gets the girl in the end, but not before it seems that all is lost. And then at the very last second, the good guys save the day and all’s well. Then the cowboy ride off in the sunset with the pretty girl. Yeah, that kinda movie.

Oh, I almost forgot, the movie name. TRANSFORMERS! Me and the She have a new hero: Optimums Prime……

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, Family In The House, A Cemetery Road & A Bench Made of Stone, Bull Creek Traders, KFC, Finger Nails & Optimums Prime

Four miles and 15 minutes after we left that little house on the hill in Butcher Holler, Johnny pulled to the side of the road and re-programmed the GPS System to lead us to Weeksbury KY. The system reported out thirty four miles and 69 minutes, causing Johnny to question the accuracy of the estimated time of travel which calculated out to be just a tick over 29 mph.

Having the iPad 2 with its own GPS App meant instant backup. And so I too programmed for Weeksbury KY on the iPad. 34 miles, 69 minutes. Still 29 mph on the iPad. With both distance and time confirmed we once again stepped back onto the Country Music Highway, south bound and down. One of the things about living in the flat lands of northern Indiana, when we travel on open roads we tend to move closer to 65 mph rather than 29 mph. We were to soon get a new appreciation for straight roads.

Our destination kept us on the big road for only a short time. Soon it was curve left and curve right and curve left and curve right,,, and now you know how all roads run in the mountains. The only other options were, from time to time, going up curve right and going up curve left then repeat the process when going downhill.

It seemed more like two hours to go the 34 miles as the GPS announced the arrival of Weeksbury. By the machine tracking yes, in the eyes of BobbyRay, not so much so. Not a single landmark was identifiable to me.

No railroad track ran beside the creek. The theater was gone. The grocery store was gone. The train depot was missing. The doctor office building was gone. Not a single thing did I recognize at the place the GPS said was Weeksbury KY. The school high up on the hill was not high up on the hill. Cement steps leading to nowhere were embedded into the mountainside. Cement steps leading to nowhere.

Silk Stocking Row was even gone. Silk Stocking Row had been a cluster of homes built after WWII by some of the locals who had worked in the industrial states to the north of Kentucky during the war effort. Then came back home and built several of the best and most modern homes in Weeksbury. At one time I lived on Silk Stocking Row. And now it’s gone.

An interesting fact about Kentucky and the draft of WWII. Kentucky did not draft a single person for the military during that time of war. The quota for Kentucky was always filled by volunteers. I still remember hearing my Uncle Robert tell the story of when he and his brother Burl, another uncle, “walked to the war”. At a time without cell phones, TV, internet, newspapers, and for many of the mountain people, even radio, news traveled at the speed of the local mail carrier. Mail moved by horse or mule and not always on a daily basis.

The attack on Perl Harbor occurred on a Sunday Morning. The news reached Uncle Robert the following Tuesday by the mail carrier. Two days later, on Thursday, the same mail carrier told of how the United Stated needed brave young men to fight for the country. The next day, Friday after the attack on Perl Harbor, my two uncles decided to go to the war. Being 12 miles from town and only horse power for transportation, they decided to just walk to town. While passing neighbors along the way, and relating the news to those not yet hearing of such, the numbers walking to the war grew. By the time my uncles got to town, they were accompanied by 30 other young men interested in fighting for the country. And so it was that the brave young men of the mountains went to war.

As the industrial war effort increased, the need for additional workers became more acute. Much the same as the young mountain men, the young mountain women went north into such places as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and, Indiana. When the letters returned home, towns likes Akron, Detroit, Chicago, South Bend, and LaPorte became household words in the mountains.
Far away places were now home to a new workforce of mountain women, who came to help win the war.

When the war ended most came home. Some remained, to this very day marked by a granite cross, over there not too far from where they fought and died on the sandy beaches of France. The mountain girls came home and some came back to Weeksbury and built Sick Stocking Row. And now it’s too gone away.

All the memory of my childhood in Weeksbury changed before my eyes. Replaced by the most dismal poverty one could ever imagine. The very heart and soul of Appalachian Poverty beat right here at Weeksbury KY on that 4th day of the seventh month in 2014. You’ve heard the old saying “Ya can never go home again”. Well you can, but you may wish you didn’t go . Some things in life are best left on the back roads of you memory. There forever in the sunshine of summer playing with Tommy Tucker, on the back roads…… I still don’t know if it was a tear of sadness, or happiness that I’d escaped life in Weeksbury.

As Johnny turned around and drove away, I never looked back. There was nothing else to see. It was too late, I’d seen it all. My thoughts turned to the rest of the day. We had places to go and things to do. So we needed to get back to the Country Music Highway as soon as possible. Not liking the GPS routing, while being navigator for Johnny, I pulled out the paper map. Within seconds found what appeared to be a really close way to connect back to US 23. And so we turned toward the Country Music Highway.

Within two miles the memory of this road came rushing back. I hated it then, and I was hating it now. We had started the steep climb up Abner Mountain. Now this is not the tallest mountain in Kentucky. It ranks right up there as the steepest climb. A summit of some 1,800 ft. does not put it into any mountain record books. But if you have a height thing like I do, 1,800 ft is much like walking where the eagles fly.

Curving up and curving up and curving up and then down the other side. I’d crossed this mountain many times as a child. We had to cross Abner Mountain every time we went to South Fork. I loved going to South Fork, hated crossing the mountain. The real down side of that July 4th day, I had to cross Abner Mountain and was not on my way to South Fork.

I did once again survive the crossing of Abner Mountain. The beautiful She, not nearly so much so. Maybe it was the curves and climbing up and over. Or maybe it was being up where the eagles fly. In any event, a short stop along the way, a little fresh mountain air and we’re off again. I offered to change seats with the She so she could sit in front. The She said no. When the She says no and I’m 1,800 ft in the sky, I don’t push the matter.

Not a minute too soon, we reach the Country Music Highway, and we’re off to play somewhere anew in the beautiful mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It’s Pikeville here we come. It’s just up the road. We didn’t even stop in Pikeville, just drove all over the little town and turned the GPS for Jenny Wiley State Park. We did decide the next time we come to the hills to play, we’ll stay in downtown Pikeville.

Lunch at the Jenny Wiley State Park is such a special treat. Beautiful lodge. A spectacular view from the top of the mountain. A beautiful luncheon buffet. Setting outside on the balcony while watching the parade of boats on a high mountain lake some 500 feet below makes for a fun time.

After lunch it’s on the road again. “Bull Creek Traders” is a flea market between Jenny Wiley State Park and Prestonsburg. Of course we stopped. It being the holiday, about half of the booths were empty. One of the vendors assured us that “tomorrow” this place will be packed. After a complete walk thru, we decided to come back the next day.

On the way back to the hotel we passed several other smaller flea markets. Passed them all by as we were saving ourselves for the Bull Creek Traders adventure come Saturday Morning. After a rather full day of ridge running in the beautiful green mountains, Me and the She took a nap before dinner later that evening back to Prestonsburg.

Reno’s Steak House sits just below what I call the “Walmart of the Mountain” at Prestonsburg. A half mile or so from Reno’s we encountered people pulling to the side of the highway. Setting up lawn chairs and charcoal grills along the way led me to believe these folks were planning on staying a while.

From our dining table inside Reno’s we could see cars continuing to pull to the side of the road and set up chairs, tables, grills, open coolers and start the party. I asked our server why such was happening. She said “Why they’re getting a good seat for the fireworks. You’ll be able to see ‘em from right outside.” About 9:30 we walked outside to a pretty much standing room only parking lot.

Seems those gathered could not wait for the official start of the Prestonsburg Fireworks. They brought their own, with some being homemade. Those you could tell, not too much in color but heavy on sound. Not wanting to stand for the Prestonsburg Fireworks, Johnny and I removed an iron bench from Reno’s front porch and placed it in the parking lot. Me and the She sat in the middle of ringside as the local folks celebrated the 4th of July mountain style.

45 minutes of nonstop fireworks. I was impressed, real impressed. In Indiana fireworks are shot from the same level as the crowd. In Prestonsburg fireworks are shot from the top of the mountain. That brings a whole new dimension to the show. No wonder the folks pulled off the highway, set up the party, cooked their supper, drank their beer and waited. It was worth the wait.

It was right at 11 o’clock in the PM when we arrived back at the hotel in Paintsville. We agreed on time for breakfast in the morning and were on our way to sleep as I thought “WOW! And we’ve got two more days to go!

Hot bologna eggs and gravy may not sound like much of a meal unless ya happen to be a hillbilly eating breakfast on the 4th day of the seventh month in the restaurant of the Radisson Hotel in Paintsville KY. I am, and so it turned out to be the breakfast of champions, that hot bologna, eggs, and gravy.

Johnny and Jaimie, along with me and the She, had come to the mountains to feel a different kind of sunshine, to see a different kind of green, to walk a different kind of mile. And so we did.

As we walked from under the front awing of the Radisson Hotel, the sky was the bluest of blue. It seemed the closest white cloud was at least a thousand miles away. Or maybe they didn’t even allow white clouds in the State of Kentucky on a 4th of July Weekend.

Just two steps into the sunshine and you knew, you just knew, southern sunshine feels different on your skin. Now five hundred miles south of the EastWing may not seem like a great deal in the grand scheme of things. But that very small different angle of the sun makes a whole lot of difference when it comes to feeling the sunshine on your skin.

So off we went to Butcher Holler, the home place of Loretta Lynn. Have you not heard of Loretta Lynn, you’ve either lived in a cave or never heard of the State of Kentucky. Loretta Lynn is the single most recognized music performer from the State of Kentucky. And just up the road from Van Lear KY is Butcher Holler.

On the east side of the State of Kentucky is a highway that runs from Ashland to Pikeville and beyond. Highway 23 is a high speed road running along the backbone of the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. This Kentucky road is officially named the “Country Music Highway” is light of all the music stars who came from the region served by this beautiful mountain highway. It was the towns along the way, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Pikeville, and other sites where we visiting this weekend. Along the Country Music Highway are signs direction traffic to the turn off site to Butcher Holler. And so we turned.

Van Lear KY is a little larger than the smallest town you know, but not much so. We were able to transverse the Friday Morning Van Lear KY traffic without mishap. With Johnnie as the driver, displaying his city driving skills, honed on Chicago streets, we were in the capable hands of a chauffeur.

Per the direction of the sign, we turned left, and within a very short distance the roadway shrunk to about 3/4 it’s normal width, but we had a chauffeur. After a few miles off the Country Music Highway, we came upon an old three story building right out of tobacco road. The Webb Grocery Store.

Three men setting on the steps of the Webb Grocery Store greeted us in a most friendly manner. If they didn’t know how to whittle, they should learn, ‘cause the Webb Grocery Store steps looked like a fine place to whittle if ya ask me. They knew why were there. Much the same way they always know why every vehicle arriving in the parking lot of the Webb Grocery Store is there. The local folks walk to the store. Out of state people drive to, on the way up the holler.

Inside the Webb Grocery Store is 1945 all over the place. Most of what you see in the Webb Grocery Store is not for sale. At least according to the She. Several things caught the eye of the She. None were for sale. One particular item, a toy cash register from the late 40’s or 50’s. Not for sale. The She really wanted that cash register. Said she played with the same one as a little girl. Played store, made change.

Leaving the Webb Grocery Store we were confronted with a one lane bridge that should have been labeled a 3/4 lane bridge. Things would get tight from there. We reached a fork in the road. A large rock, with a hand pained sign and arrow pointing again to the left said “Butcher Holler”

Now don’t get any pretty pictures in your mind of a nicely painted rock sign. A poorly painted rock sign, yes. Unskilled at rock lettering was evident upon first glance of the Butcher Holler Rock. Unskilled as rock spelling was also evident. The Bucher Holler Rock could not qualify for Appalachian Art in anybody’s gallery. A quarter mile from the Butcher Holler Rock we came to the really bad part of the roadway.

Two weeks before we arrived there had been a flood in Butcher Holler. A part of the road had washed away. It was the “fall off side” of the road. Now for those folks that don’t understand how hillbillies describe roads, the fall off side of the road is the side that if you fall off that side, you go over the hill. And most of the time you would fall all the way to the water. Sometimes the distance to the water is great, sometimes not so much so. Either way, it’s never a good idea to fall off the side of the road.

Clearance was less than two foot for the car on the fall off side of road. Just another three hundred yards or so, and we were where Loretta Lynn was born, in a house on a hill in Butcher Holler.

Herman Webb gives the tour of the little house on the hill in Butcher Holler. For $5.00 you get to walk thru four rooms of a little mountain house, much the same as I lived in for the first 10 years when I too lived in the Kentucky Mountains. Herman is Loretta Lynn’s baby brother, and he also owns the Webb Grocery Store.

The neat thing about the house on the hill in Butcher Holler is nothing within is fake, it’s all just as it was a long time ago. Loretta Lynn is 82 years old. The contents of the little house reflects the Appalachian Poverty of that time. That same Appalachian Poverty is just apparent on out trek to Butcher Holler.

After Johnny drove past the fall off side of the bad road he gave a sigh of relief and said he was glad that spot was past us. And now with the She being the last family member to see Butcher Holler, we’ll not be back to this part of the mountains again. I agreed.

When we got back to the Country Music Highway, Johnny reprogrammed the GPS of Weeksbury KY.

Just a note before some purist gets on my case for spelling hollow as holler. I took my spelling from the rock.

One thing for sure, Had a poll been taken of my EastWing friends before the fight, Mr. Bentley would not have gone to the Coon War and I’d still be trying to negotiate a deal to keep the raccoon from eating the deck cats food.

Now before I say anything else, Mr. Bentley is well. He did not suffer and lasting effects of the Coon War. I must say, I never dreamed so many friends cared so much about Mr. Bentley. Last Week every single email had Mr. Bentley included in the discussion. Even the one who gave me a bunch of crap for something I could not ever figure out what they were talking about. Even that one had kind words for the Big Puppy.

One of the interesting things about telling a real life story is, there are events that occurred prior to the start of the story, and events continued after the story ended. Such was the case of Mr. Bentley and big coon. Much the same way as when two or even three people observe the same set of events and each write the story of such things. The stories all come out different. Same events, different stories.

One of the more widely read set of stories of this type of storytelling can be found in the first three books of the New Testament, Mathew, Mark, and Luke. Reading such, one could ask if they were all at the same party. They were. Then if you read the Books of Mathew Mark and Luke again, and again, you start to realize, yes it is the same story, just seen from different sets of eyes.

So with all the bad mouthing I got for putting Mr. Bentley in harm’s way, I’m reverting to a technique from an old and dear friend of mine, Paul Harvey, “And now for the rest of the story.”

The Big Raccoon did not just wonder upon the north deck on dark night and was attacked by the Homeland Security Officer. The Big Coon had molested the cats and eaten the cat food almost every night for two weeks. Several attempts to persuade the big fellow to abandon his stealing ways and find other nocturnal entertainment were not met with success.

Pitching water on the coon had no adverse effect. Poking said coon with a broomstick, likewise. The Big Coon even became accustom to my voice. At first, he’d run when I spoke, but soon after, he’d just look up at me standing in the north deck doorway, kinda grin and return to his late night supper.

All the while I was making efforts to rid the EastWing of said coon, Mr. Bentley, every night, standing by my side wanted to apply his special technique of Coon Control. Only after all my efforts were unsuccessful, it was then, and only then, did I decide to give Mr. Bentley a chance to demonstrate his Raccoon Eradication skills. The skills of the President of Pit Bull Inc. were impressive.

After the night battle, and the injured gladiator received proper medical attention, me and Mr. Bentley slept holding hands. The following morning we surveyed the battlefield. What we found in the daylight was way more impressive than what I thought the opponent would look like in the sunshine. Mr. Bentley took one look at the demolished gladiator, turned and walked back to the EastWing.

I thought the raccoon was a big one in the nightlight. In the sunshine it was the largest raccoon I’d ever seen. In fact, so big I decided to get the bathroom scale and weigh the big coon for the record. The thing was so large it would not all fit on the bathroom scale, so I weighed myself, picked up the coon, and done the math. 34 lbs. Not being a hunter, I had no idea if this was a normal adult raccoon, small one, or what. Asking my brother-in-law, Dexter Mullins, I found out that 34 lbs is a monster of a coon.

It turned out that Mr. Bentley had taken on the “Godzilla of the Raccoon World”. What amazed me, when I realized the size and weight of this trespasser of the EastWing, he was within 2 lbs of being half the size of Mr. Bentley. What my brother-in-law told me about big coons was that they can easily kill dogs twice their size if they are able to get the fight into water. The coon will drown the dog ever time.

“And now you know the rest of the story” Thanks Paul Harvey.

It was with that bit of information that Mr. Bentley and I had a long talk on how to handle raccoons when they enter into the kill zone as established by Pit Bull Inc. From now on, all intruders with ring tails will be dealt with using the little hand gun with the magic red light.

That little gun is so cool, you don’t even have to be a cowboy to know how to shoot that pistol. It’s the red dot thing that makes me a marksman. Ya don’t even have to aim or anything, just watch the little red dot. Where goes the red dot, so goes the bullet when ya squeeze. That little gun is just so cool.

One of the many blessings you receive when living in the countryside is sharing life with the wildlife. Deer, turkeys, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, butterflies, bumblebees and hummingbirds, just to name a few, most always live in perfect harmony. But once in a while.

It was one of those “once in a while” times a couple weeks ago when Mr. Bentley started whining while looking out the north deck door at 9:30 in the PM. When I flipped on the outside deck lights, there two foot from Mr. Bentley’s nose, eating the cat food, was the biggest raccoon I’d ever seen. It was a spur of the moment decision. I decided to let Mr. Bentley discuss trespassing with the big coon.

As the glass door sled open the coon had a two foot lead on Mr. Bentley but the race became tied before the big coon reached the north end of the pool deck. At about the 48 ft mark of the race Mr. Bentley made up the two foot lead, and the battle was joined. Within seconds both combatants were at the north end of the deck and both rolled off into the total darkness.

A life and death struggle ensued there in the blackness of that nighttime. The sounds of battle rolled south across the deck and filled the EastWing with concern. From the sounds reaching my ears, I could not tell who was making what. Yet I knew, I just knew for sure, one of these animals would not walk away.

I thought of my Brother-In-Law, Dexter Mullins, who used to raise high quality coon hounds, telling me that a big coon could kill a good dog. Mr. Bentley’s big but that was the biggest coon I’d ever seen. As the battle cries reached a higher decibel, then just as abrupt as the sounds of battle had started, they stopped. The darkness of the north deck hung heavy in the air. Somewhere out there were both a winner and a looser of that battle. I could tell from the sounds of the war, this did not end in a draw.

I walked to the north end of the deck, called for Mr. Bentley. Mr. Bentley did not race to my side. Bentley did not come at all. I did not call for Bentley a second time. But walked back to the EastWing wondering what the morning light would reveal beyond the north deck. By now the time was past 10 PM, but sleep was not an option this night of the coon fight.

The iPad kept me company as I kept one eye on the iPad and one eye on the east door of the EastWing. I knew that if Mr. Bentley had survived the battle and could walk, he would somehow get to the east door. And so I watched and waited. And watched and waited. When 11PM turned into 11:30 and then midnight turned into tomorrow. I waited into that new day, not knowing if I still had Mr. Bentley or would need to preach his funeral when the sun came up.

After the first hour of the new day had passed, I started thinking about trying to go to sleep, after all, I still had to go to work in a few hours. And then it happened.

A special kinda chill went head to toe, Mr. Bentley stood and the east glass door of the EastWing.

It sure didn’t take me long to open the door. As Mr. Bentley stepped thru the door, I realized he was covered with blood. At that point I was impossible to tell if the blood was dog or coon. Either way, I had to clean him up and tend to his wounds before any thought of sleep that night.

Good thing the She was sound asleep when all this happened, else she’d have been really for me letting Mr. Bentley get in harm’s way. I put Mr. Bentley in the shower. He is used to taking a shower so he had no problem taking a shower at 1:30 AM, although I’m sure he thought it was the earliest shower ever.

As the water ran over Mr. Bentley’s head, face, chest and front legs, the drain swirled red.

After a half minute or so of plain warm water, I started washing with Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, so if I got any soap in his eyes it would not burn and cause him to want to end the shower early. Now keep in mind, with his size, and my size, and his strength and my strength, if Mr. Bentley decided to end his shower early, it would end early.

The warm water and shampoo removed all the dried blood, both dog and coon, in short order. But it did reveal the wounds of battle. Nothing life threatening but many deep scratches and some real nasty bites on his ears. The worst wound was on the back side of the right front paw. I think the ole coon took a chunk out and it showed. The bleeding was unchecked. I just wrapped that foot in thick gaze and tended to all other cuts and scrapes.

When all the other cuts and scrapes were tended to, I turned to the bad foot and decided I had nothing to control the bleeding other than a tourniquet, which I did apply. It worked. I cleaned the wound filled the cut with some triple antibiotic stuff and applied a heavy dressing. Then decided to double the dressing and hope the blood would clot within the dressing and the dog would not chew it off.

Me and Mr. Bentley slept on the couch that night. Me, so I could keep an eye on the bandage, Mr. Bentley, ‘cause he was still shivering for the battle and needed somebody to hug him that night, and I was the somebody there in the darkness.

Were you aware that history was made last Tuesday, June 10th? And in all places, the 7th Congressional District in the State of Virginia. At no time in the history of this Republic had a majority leader in the United States House of Representatives been defeated in a primary election. A general election, yes, a primary election, not until June 10th 2014.

Earthquake, mind blowing, shattering, staggering defeat, and, unparallel are just a few of the words used by the talking heads of television to describe those primary results in Virginia. Depending on how you were listening to, it was either a major victory for the Tea Party, or a long term victory for the democrats. It was neither. It was a major victory for the people of the 7th Congressional District in the State of Virginia.

The reason I say such a thing is very simple, the defeated candidate, Eric Cantor, had changed constituents. His new constituents were Barak Obama and the Majority Leadership in the US House of Representatives. For the past year Eric Cantor no longer represented the 7th Congressional District of Virginia. Too bad Cantor’s new constituents did not have a vote on June 10th .

All the while democrats jumped up and down with joy and Nancy Pelosi swore before God and everybody that the results of that primary election was proof positive the Tea Party had hijacked the Republican Party and moved them even further to the extreme right. Did ya ever notice how democrats love to use the word “extreme”? While at the same time having a president occupying White House and holding the most liberal (extreme views?) of any president in the history of the nation.

With both the TV talkers and the print media making every effort to expound on the Tea Party victory, it’s important to note the complete lack of Tea Party support or involvement in the Virginia 7th District primary race. Not a single national Tea Party member came to the aid of the candidate opposing Eric Cantor. While a host of regular Republican Party support was out flowing. This was not a Tea Party victory. This was a victory for the way the American system of electing people to represent them in congress is suppose to work. When the views of the constituents differs from those elected to serve, those elected to serve are replaced. And so it was in Virginia.

Again unlike some folks would have you to believe, this election was not the result of an unusually low voter turnout. In fact this election saw more votes cast than the last primary in this district. And no, it was not the result of democrats voting in an open primary trying to screw over the favorite. That didn’t happen either, for one thing there are very few democrats in the 7th district of Virginia.

Now if the Tea Party can’t claim this victory, and the democrats can’t claim a spoiler roll, who then is to blame of such an earthquake, mind blowing, shattering, staggering defeat, as proclaimed by those entrusted to know how such things work?

And that’s what’s so cool about the whole thing. Not a single “expert” in the whole country foresaw this outcome. All the “smart money” stayed with the man who had constituents both in the US House of Representatives and in the Office of the President. After all, who would possibly not support the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives? We the people, the voters in the 7th Congressional District in the State of Virginia that’s who.

Having been dubious from day one when the Obama Administration became in charge of the nation’s foreign policy, there is now no doubt that such concerns had merit. Failure by this administration in the development of a foreign policy shows in every corner of the globe. When the major achievement of America’s Foreign Policy during the first term of the Obama Administration is by the admission of the Secretary of State to “pass off the baton”.

WOW! I’m not too much of a sports fan, but don’t believe there is a reward or trophy issued for “passing off the baton”. The current Secretary of State may have dropped his baton from the way things are falling apart in the world. The Russian guy says I’m taking Crimea. Our guy says we’ll draw another line in the sand. As the folks in Iran are still laughing at their line in the sand drawn by the same president who threatened to draw a sand line for Russia. One of the good things about California is when China comes ashore, there’s lots of sand to draw a new line.

With all the line drawing in the sand, someone forgot that there is lots of sand in Iraq. Then, after maybe the single worst foreign policy decision in the history of this nation, Iraq explodes. In a matter of days a major section of Iraq is in the control of Al-qaeda. Seems everyone seen it coming except the President and his Secretary of State along with his national security council.

Not to fret, come next Sunday I expect to hear either Susan Wright or Hillary Clinton on the Sunday Morning political talk shows telling us that those Al-qaeda boys in Iraq are just mad over a video played on you-tube. Or maybe Susan Wright will tell us they all are serving with honor and distinction. And if that still don’t calm our nerves, they’ll bring out Joe Biden who will once again tell us “Ben Laden’s dead and General Motors is alive”. That’ll do it.

Oh, by the way, did you hear about the IRS losing two years of emails from Lois Lerner? Yep, lost the whole lot, and all from the time period requested by congress. Now not all my friends will remember this but some will. Remember during the Watergate investigation when some 29 minutes turned up missing on a recording tape in the office of President Nixon, and his secretary made every effort to explain the mistake, and not a single person in this country believed the explanation. I think that president ended up losing his job. We’ll see.

Losing two years of email due to a computer crash. Wonder if those IRS folks ever heard of computer backup? One of the good things about this is the next time you’re audited, just tell ‘em you lost all your records due to a computer crash. Surly they will understand, after all, it can happen to the best of us. Or is that the worst of us?

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, History Made In Virginia, American Foreign Policy & Drawing Lines In Sand

For all those who never expected the return of the green, green grass of summer, doubting Thomas one and all.
This Sunday the She and I went to Menards early. In the store before 10:00 in the AM, just to get her plants, seeds, weed killer, gloves and other supplies to allow a full day of “dirt digging by the She” It’s a quick lunch at a Mexican Restaurant then back to the EastWing and the She’s doing the dirt digging thing for the rest of the day.

Now just in case anyone who uses an iPad with an attached Logitech keyboard is wondering if they can withstand a direct milk spill on the keys. The answer is NO, just saying.

WOW! Just when you think things can’t get any worse for the President, things got worse. Knowing full well some of my friends are going to find this hard to believe, but I’m starting to feel sorry for the President. Having stated my opinion of his political beliefs on more than one occasion, the handling of his latest disaster leads me to believe his handlers have now lost total site of reality and the American People.

Five years of knowing that the only American held by the Taliban had deserted his post, and the President strikes a deal to get him back. He trades some very high profile Taliban fighters for an army deserter and then takes what can only be identified as a Saturday Afternoon Victory Lap in the Rose Garden. Pats himself on the back, and I almost expected him to say “Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive”.

The disaster for the President is not nearly so much trading the high profile Taliban 5, nearly as much as proclaiming that the army deserter is coming home to a hero welcome. How that got by the people who make the decisions as to what the President says and when he says it, is beyond me.

Surrounding one’s self with like minded people may work in certain mid levels of management. When such happens with the Office of The President of The United States, you have people like the young man a couple, three weeks ago on national television saying “Dude, that’s like two years ago”, when asked a yes or no question. Not to mention the fiasco caused by the comments made from Susan Rice saying an army deserter has served with honor and distinction. Sure bet that girl wishes she had a video to blame those remarks on.

Changing the story as to why the deal went down the way it did, adds nothing to the creditability of the President or any of the people around him. The White House spin is “We had reason to believe he was in dire health, and had to be brought out of there as soon as possible.” The second spin from the White House was “The Taliban would kill the prisoner if the deal became public”.

Now as people who were on site when the desertion took place start to speak out, the spin from the White House is a typical democratic political ploy. “Kill the messenger, and never rebut the message”. They suggest the unit from which the deserter came was something less than a good functioning unit of the army. WOW! Wonder why that little ditty was not made public 5 years ago when the desertion occurred? Another thing that’s grabbed my curiosity is why did the army require all those in the same unit as the deserter to sign a document stating they would not discuss the desertion while they were still in the army. Seems kinda strange if ya ask me.

Still can’t get over the fact that they stuck the President out in the Rose Garden with a fellow who quoted the Koran and spoke in a language native to the Taliban. It’s as if a bunch of frat rats were setting around smoking dope, and someone said “It’s another Bin Laden moment”. Let’s go for it. Bring in the TV People.

Guess one of the good things to come out of this whole sorry mess is, in two years Hillary Clinton, when asked, can say “Dude, that’s been two years already”

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From The EastWing, The She Digging Dirt, Milking The iPad, A President Without A Clue, Only As Good As Your People, Hillary Says “Dude”

One thing for sure, mention Hillary Clinton, President Obama and Saul Alinsky in the same paragraph and the liberal attack dogs of the world start to howl. Such mean spirited attacks can only be compared to what Saul Alinsky preached as a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER, and I quote. “The most powerful weapons for bringing about social change in a society is condemnation, humiliation, embarrassment, and shame. The use of these verbal weapons will renders your adversary’s position ineffective and useless.”

By Thursday of last week, the email contained the following: Shame on you. You should know better. I’m disappointed in you. You should just say I’m sorry for even thinking that Hillary would be involved with a person like that. You don’t know enough about the real world to say things like you say. Your are a racist, the way you pick on the President because he’s black. To say things like that about Hillary shows you hate women. And it went on and on. Of all the hate email from last week, the one I love the most said “You are just puking up old Republican Dribble.

From the words of some of the emails, it appears that more than Hillary Clinton and President Obama are disciples of Saul Alinsky. Like I quoted above, the man said “The most powerful weapons for bringing about social change in a society is condemnation, humiliation, embarrassment, and shame. The use of these verbal weapons will renders your adversary’s position ineffective and useless.”

What’s really interesting is that not one, not a single one of the attack dogs, or anyone else chose to take on the challenge when last week I asked anyone to tell me where I was wrong by proposing the following challenge. “Point out one item of the eight that is not a part of the liberal agenda being pushed by the President and being supported by the likes of Harry Reid in the United States Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the U S House of Representatives.”

Now just in case you may have forgotten what the 8 levels of control were, here it is again. And

I print this again for two reasons. One, just in case you may have forgotten the importance of this list, and two just so the disciples of Saul Alinsky know that I’m rubbing it in their face two weeks in a row.

How to create a social state by Saul Alinsky
“There are eight levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to create a social state”. The first is the most important.
1) Healthcare – Control healthcare, and you control the people.
2) Poverty – Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.
3) Debt – Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.
4) Gun Control- Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.
5) Welfare – Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income)
6) Education -Take control of what people read and listen to take control of what children learn in school.
7) Religion – Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools.
8) Class Warfare – Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.

Guess another word for fact is “….just puking up old Republican Dribble”. Level the playing field. Your Fair Share. Income inequality. Does anybody recall ever hearing those phrases come from the White House? Just asking. Guess that too is just puking up…… Oh, you know what I mean.

Of course not all the email jumped on me for being a “….bad boy in sheep’s clothing.” Oh, by the way, that sheep clothing thing could have been included up above with the attack dogs paragraph, but I regress. It was pointed out that Sophia has been silent for way too long and was wondering as to her health.

Sophia is alive and well. In fact, it was Sophia who pointed out the Saul Alinsky connection. As many of you know, Sophia, too, has her roots in Chicago. Saul Alinsky hailed from the Chicago Jewish Community while Sophia comes from the South Side of Chicago, from the land of LeRoy Brown.

Dear Diary,

I cried when the Beagles didn’t come home. I still miss ‘em.

And I still hate Spike.

Sophia

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From the EastWing, Condemnation Humiliation Embarrassment, and Shame By The Book, Puking Up Facts, A Challenge Not Taken, And Sophia Said.